Japanese bridge

[RogerS]

I mentioned a while back that I was going to convert some of my larch planks to make a simple Japanese bridge.

This is the one that has inspired LOML at Zuisen-ji Temple



The initial 'How to do an arch' thread is here.

The main bearers had been rough cut in situ with a chain saw, using a template, by Bill - the guy with the Alaskan mill and an excellent sculptor in wood - but I've lost the photos of that . Next they needed to be trimmed on the bandsaw. But I needed help as these bearers are damn heavy ...estimated at 50+kg each (which incidentally means that that slab of 4" plank that smashed the back of my calf was closer to 120kg and not the paltry 70kg I'd thought).

Luckily two erstwhile forum members - Lons and Sam Q p- were visiting and they manhandled the bearers from the felling site up to the workshop and between the three of us, trimmed the bearers. Thanks chaps...I couldn't have done it without you bscene-drinkingcheers:



Some finessing with the belt sander still to be done.



Warning....this is going to be another one of those long-drawn out projects...not least of which waiting for my builder to make the concrete pads for where the bridge will go.

 

[TrimTheKing]

Ooooh I do like a Japanese bridge. We’ve a small Rill style pond in the garden with a bridge over and I’ve told the boss that next time I have to replace it I want to do it in that style.

 

[Woodbloke]

Ooooh I do like a Japanese bridge. We’ve a small Rill style pond in the garden with a bridge over and I’ve told the boss that next time I have to replace it I want to do it in that style.

You can also get them from here but they're a bit heavy :shock: We have several Japanese lanterns and a 'Koi Lady' in the garden from the same place - Rob

 

[RogerS]

Ooooh I do like a Japanese bridge. We’ve a small Rill style pond in the garden with a bridge over and I’ve told the boss that next time I have to replace it I want to do it in that style.

.... a 'Koi Lady' in the garden from the same place - Rob

Does that mean she's kept her clothes on ? :lol:

 

[Woodbloke]

Ooooh I do like a Japanese bridge. We’ve a small Rill style pond in the garden with a bridge over and I’ve told the boss that next time I have to replace it I want to do it in that style.

.... a 'Koi Lady' in the garden from the same place - Rob

Does that mean she's kept her clothes on ? :lol:

...complete with kimono and uchiwa fan. She's also very demure and a bit heavy; solid granite - Rob

 

[AJB Temple]

Rhino Rock is literally 5 minutes drive from us. Interestingly neither Howard (who runs it) nor his brother Graham (who is more engaging) have ever been to Japan. The place is a bit of a tip these days and I imaging the import costs from China (which is where most of the granite stuff is actually made) have sky rocketed. They do get some excellent pieces in, including now and again some genuine ancient artefacts. They are also excellent for anyone looking to buy top quality acers of a decent size, without paying the crazy prices charged by garden centres.

 

[Woodbloke]

Rhino Rock is literally 5 minutes drive from us. Interestingly neither Howard (who runs it) nor his brother Graham (who is more engaging) have ever been to Japan. The place is a bit of a tip these days and I imaging the import costs from China (which is where most of the granite stuff is actually made) have sky rocketed. They do get some excellent pieces in, including now and again some genuine ancient artefacts. They are also excellent for anyone looking to buy top quality acers of a decent size, without paying the crazy prices charged by garden centres.

Agreed Adrian, it's a bit of a tip and we weren't particularly impressed with their acers. This place is far, far better and some of their trees were absolutely superb. As you say, most of their stuff is made in China which makes it affordable; Howard mentioned to us that were it made in Japan the cost would be enormous and way out of our reach. We recently bought one of their 'river rock' lanterns which I initially thought was a bit of a 'con'. It wasn't til I saw a picture of a 'yama-dōrō' in 'Shakkei', the journal of the JGS that I realised it was a actual Japanese lantern - Rob

 

[AJB Temple]

Yes. The acer stock varies hugely and you need Graham to tip you off when they have had a good delivery. A lot of the good stuff is snapped up by garden designers quite fast. I think their market is mainly trade. Even though the carved granite is usually Chinese, it is very high quality if you go for the good stuff. They are doing quite a lot of shaped Ilex Crenata etc at the moment, large plants and all in pots (so Bonsai technically) but intended to be Niwaki eventually (planted in the ground). Again prices are sensible compared with garden centres, but very much aimed at the contractor market I think.

In normal years Howard lends out his best plant stock (for a fee) to Chelsea designers and he also keeps back some of the best rocks for this purpose too.

 

[SamQ aka Ah! Q!]

Luckily two erstwhile forum members - Lons and Sam Q p- were visiting and they manhandled the bearers from the felling site up to the workshop

The operative word there is "up". Roger's timber was at the bottom of a stream valley and his workshop is 4 'storeys' up from there...

 

[Lons]

Luckily two erstwhile forum members - Lons and Sam Q p- were visiting and they manhandled the bearers from the felling site up to the workshop

The operative word there is "up". Roger's timber was at the bottom of a stream valley and his workshop is 4 'storeys' up from there...

YUP !!!! I don't recall that being mentioned in the pre visit conversation "while you're here can you just ?" :lol: :lol:

Pushing it through the bandsaw worked a treat though. :eusa-dance:

It was good to see you again Roger, Sam and I talked about you all the way home - were your ears burning?

 

[wallace]

On the subject of acers, my wife bought me one from woolworths 23 years ago, it was about 6" tall. Its now about 20' tall

 

[Woodbloke]

On the subject of acers, my wife bought me one from woolworths 23 years ago, it was about 6" tall. Its now about 20' tall

Easy to prune to shape as well; mostly done in November when the form of the branches is easy to see and the leaves have dropped - Rob

 

[RogerS]

On the subject of acers, my wife bought me one from woolworths 23 years ago, it was about 6" tall. Its now about 20' tall

Easy to prune to shape as well; mostly done in November when the form of the branches is easy to see and the leaves have dropped - Rob

Ahem.....

:text-threadjacked:

 

[Woodbloke]

On the subject of acers, my wife bought me one from woolworths 23 years ago, it was about 6" tall. Its now about 20' tall

Easy to prune to shape as well; mostly done in November when the form of the branches is easy to see and the leaves have dropped - Rob

Ahem.....

:text-threadjacked:

Yebut Roger, once you've got your lovely Japanese bridge in place, 'er indoors might want to plant some acers in strategic positions around it, so it is relevant. Sort of :eusa-whistle: :lol: - Rob

 

[wallace]

sorry boss

 

[AJB Temple]

Without in any way wishing to contradict or be controversial, on the subject of Acer pruning for Niwaki or Bonsai, Peter Chan (see You Tube) of Heron's Bonsai, recommends pruning in summer. My son and I were at Heron's today as it happens (they are doing a big refurb and extending) and chatted to him about it. He likes to prune when the plant is active as he says healing is much faster and the chances of fungal infections are low. Heron's have a lot of top notch stock currently, including spectacular Acers, and some top notch Pinus in quarantine, imported from Japan. Also one of the few places with a great deal of stock of 1 and 2 year old Dawn Redwood if anyone is looking for some!

 

[RogerS]

Without in any way wishing to contradict or be controversial, on the subject of Acer pruning for Niwaki or Bonsai, Peter Chan (see You Tube) of Heron's Bonsai, recommends pruning in summer. My son and I were at Heron's today as it happens (they are doing a big refurb and extending) and chatted to him about it. He likes to prune when the plant is active as he says healing is much faster and the chances of fungal infections are low. Heron's have a lot of top notch stock currently, including spectacular Acers, and some top notch Pinus in quarantine, imported from Japan. Also one of the few places with a great deal of stock of 1 and 2 year old Dawn Redwood if anyone is looking for some!

Can we please start a new acer thread ?

 

[Phil]

Without in any way wishing to contradict or be controversial, on the subject of Acer pruning for Niwaki or Bonsai, Peter Chan (see You Tube) of Heron's Bonsai, recommends pruning in summer. My son and I were at Heron's today as it happens (they are doing a big refurb and extending) and chatted to him about it. He likes to prune when the plant is active as he says healing is much faster and the chances of fungal infections are low. Heron's have a lot of top notch stock currently, including spectacular Acers, and some top notch Pinus in quarantine, imported from Japan. Also one of the few places with a great deal of stock of 1 and 2 year old Dawn Redwood if anyone is looking for some!

Can we please start a new acer thread ?

While we are on Acers and bonsai, maybe what about .................... Oooo sheet chips, here comes Rog :lol: :lol: :lol:

 

[RogerS]

An awful lot has happened since I last posted.

I clamped the two main bearers together and then used my latest addition to my ever-increasing assortment of Milwaukee 18v tools - a planer. It made mincemeat of shaping the tops of the bearers into more or less the same shape and also at right angles to the vertical faces.


All the time reminding myself that it was a bit of outdoor 'furniture', green and will move and so I settled for 'good enough'.


Some of the planks we milled up were purloined from the For Sale pile ready to be ripped into shorter widths as treads.



Then many weeks later when Bill came back to mill up some more planks, I asked him to cut out the top smaller bearers that would sit on top of the treads. We used a spare bit of tread to rough out the cutline for the interface with the treads (the red line). It will be a different radius to the top of the main bearers.




The top line doesn't need to reference to anything and can be shaped later. Bill (he is also a wood sculptor is well as a tree surgeon) then cut to the line with his chain saw.


Having all the component parts made, time to work out the concrete pads on which the bridge arch will sit. But first, I needed to hack through the jungle which was a good half day in itself.


I managed to drag the two main bearers by myself (well, it was downhill) and then set about working out the best position.





By this time I realised that, as I was having to work with the available lengths, I really could have done with another 500 cm. But Hey Ho...we were where we were. Not helped by the fact that the bank at the far end was the spoil excavated from when the ditch was dug many years ago plus massive roots from a recently felled tree. Reducing the height of that bank was not an option. Nor was relocating the site...Chief Designer Rules.

So I started to mark out where the pads would go and excavate as deep where I was able to. That was when I realised that the pad at the far end would not excavate out as much as I wanted due to aforementioned stones and roots and that the pads would look better being cantilevered out...nice to look at but a bugger to stop tipping in later years. :eusa-think:

Talking of tipping, I soon found out that (a) those bearers are inherently unstable when they are oriented to be the right way up and (b) that they really hurt you when they decide to revert to the more stable upside-down position and one is in the way.

My approach was to use loads of rebar both in the usual place but also hammered at angles back into the bank. I also got a couple of screw anchors that went eventually deep into the ground and the concrete set around those as well.





I got some paid help to barrow down the concrete and level it off while I did the mixing.



Once the concrete had gone off, I cut flats off the bottom of the bearers to try and give them a bit of sideways stability plus some blocks that I could use temporary steps on to hold the bearers in the right position while I screwed down the treads. The last thing I wanted was those inherently unstable bearers deciding they'd twist themselves flat ripping out all the fixings on the reads.





Fitting the treads was a doddle and soon cracked on.



After all the treads were screwed down, I offered up the top bearers using my numbering scheme and they didn't fit All over the place. So I tried them round the other way and bingo...a good fit.

I also discovered that because of the tilt in the bridge mandated by the height of the rear bank, as you walked down it, you accelerated and it wasn't very comfortable to use Such is life. I also discovered that I'd not properly thought through how the ends of the bridge interacted with the surrounding ground - as some of you will have spotted. CUF strikes again.

Simple fudge...fill the gap with earth and lay some turf et voila...



obviously still a work in progress :lol:

 

[AJB Temple]

Nice.

What is the concept for the area Roger? Will it be turned into a Japanese style garden.

And - watch yourself on that bridge in winter. I made a similar bridge out of oak over a connection between two ponds. Looks great but oak when wet in winter is incredibly slippery.

PS. You could plant an Acer near there. :lol:

 

[Malc2098]

Nice.

 

[RogerS]

Nice.

What is the concept for the area Roger? Will it be turned into a Japanese style garden.

.....

Nothing planned, Adrian.

 

[AndyP]

Just need some water in that dry stream. Looks good though.

 

[Windows]

Very good!

 

[Cabinetman]

Nice bridge Roger, you could always screw some 15 x15mm lats down to act as foot grips if needed.

 

[SamQ aka Ah! Q!]

Still think it needs a goat....

 

[johnward]

Very attractive indeed Roger. I have just a plain flat deck over my pond and often wish it was arched.
John

 

[DaveL]

Still think it needs a goat....

Or a troll [emoji2]

 

[Lons]

Still think it needs a goat....

Or a troll [emoji2]

The Troll already exist, it's just that he lives in the farm next door. You'll get Roger very upset at the thought of him living under the bridge. :shock:

 

[SamQ aka Ah! Q!]

Now, "buried under the bridge" might be a better proposition.... :eusa-whistle:

 

[Malc2098]

Still think it needs a goat....

Or a troll [emoji2]

..and three billy goats Gruff!

 

[Phil]

Looks good Rog

What about some lanterns at either end with subtle lights?
Some acers and cherries?

 

[SamQ aka Ah! Q!]

Roger, it really does look good and "well done you" for all the hard work to get it together. Having seen the site in person, I applaud you a second time for the sheer 'grunt' needed to transport materials, shuggle everything into place and finish up tidily.

 

[Lons]

Roger, it really does look good and "well done you" for all the hard work to get it together. Having seen the site in person, I applaud you a second time for the sheer 'grunt' needed to transport materials, shuggle everything into place and finish up tidily.

Yeah from me as well Roger, just needs the plant lady to get her finger out now. :eusa-clap:

 

[AndyT]

Impressive project!
I'm envious of your space and the opportunity to build big heavy stuff - but also glad that I don't have to!

If it does prove slippery in the winter, I can recommend non-slip strips from these people. They are available in a range of colours and sizes and really work well. Pretty much indestructible too.

https://www.safetread.co.uk/decking-strips

 

[RogerS]

Many thanks to everyone for all the comments.

Special thanks go to Lons and Sam Q for all their help in manhanding the main arches. bscene-drinkingcheers:

 

[Lons]

My back still hurts at the memory Rog. I hope you're planning a champagne opening, you could invite TOAS. :twisted: